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Show Rollovers kick off annual Jeep Safari by Franklin Seal staff writer Three day into thia year 36 annual Jeep Safari, tales of four confirmed rollovers (and rumors of four more) made the rounds among some of the 100 Jeep Safari trail leaders who met Monday night at the Spanish Trail Arena to discuss safety and organisational issues. non-injur- y climaxing on www.moabtimes.com I 4 V Friday. -- Partly Cloudy High 68 tow 34 tv by Franklin Seal staff writer Salurdty. Its Partly Cloudy High 66 Low 33 a rare thing indeed; a real esstrip of prime ridge-totate just five short minutes by car from the center of Moab, 300-acr- e p .'Kt 'tv 5tmdy Mostly Sunny High 68 Low38 500 Thursday, March 28, 2002 Group to SITLA: drop canyon rim parcel from land swap list Tfv Mostly Sunny High 67 Low 35 Continued on Tage A 2 SERVING SOUTHEASTERN UTAH SINCE 1896 WEATHER FORECAST Ihiind)L Grand County Sheriff Jim Nyland coached the guides on working with the borrowed helicopter that local law enforcement will put into service beginning Thursday. MOAB, UTAH Number 13 Volume 109 McElhaney, lied Hoik president, lie urged leaders to focus on the main task at hand. Get them there, and get them back. There a no such tiling as a chicken route." With almost 1 ,600 participants registered so far (and more signing up every day) the event continues thia week, Saturday when 31 hackcountry on line Main Street to hit the trail. trips up Monday night, community leaders briefed volunteer trail guides on how to prevent and respond to accidents on the trail. "Egos break more vehicles than any rock," said Doug The popular Dump Bump may be closed at dusk each day Photo Drop-dead- gorgeous views abound on every side. And if you were lucky enough and rich enough to own a house there, your backyard (literally) would verge on one of the desert's most pmiou stream flowing gems: a mountain-fe- year-roun- through a d tree-line- d can- yon graced with numerous Anasazi rock art panels and several caves. In short, a small bit of Paradise. Sound like a pitch from a real Conimucri on Page A2 d I Thompson jumps off a slickrock fin near tha Practice Loop during last year's festival, Photo by John Foss Karl The nt Extra presents its second installment of I three-wee- k Spring Home end Garden series. Readers may glean the latest information from local retailers and home ft . improvement experts as they gear up for springl The 20-paguide also includes real estate listings, a TV guide, community calendar and classifieds. The Moab Ministerial Association is presenting sunrise services in Arches Sunday morning A number of churches have planned other activities. A2.A4 Inside The T imes Busins Dining Extrt Directory: & Lodging: Extra Editorial, Lsttefi: A ffl-f- f Historic Photo: A2 Notice: A6 Obituaries: 44 Sports: AS 9 WEATHER HISTORY March March March March March March March 28 20 S7 21 72 28 22 78 35 23 75 ---- 54 24 75 41 -- 38 Tr. 25 82 28 82 33 - Unicycle Festival comes to Slickrock Riders say one wheel is enough The 3rd Annual Moab Mountain Unicyding (MUni for short) Festival will be held in Moab this weekend, as a few extra-craz- y cyclists attempt to rid slickrock on not two, but one wheel. A small group The festival runs March of MUni enthusiasts will gravitate to slickrock for several days of slickrock-styl- e trail riding. Organizer and MUni aficionado Rolf Thompson of Orem says this event and ones like it are popping up around the country as people are discovering the fun of trail riding on unicycles. "Twenty years ago they started building mountain bikes. They beefed up the frames and tires and put a gazillion gears on them. Look how far weve come with mountain bikes. The same thing is starting to happen with unicycles, albeit 20 years later. With big knobby tires, ruggedized hubs, cranks, frames and seats, the new MUnicydes are taking riders where once no one dared to go. High-enMUni even have disk brakes on them, very handy for Slickrock terrain. These improvements as well as new techniques are making the seemingly Impossible a reality," Thompson said. About 15 MUni riders are expected to attend this years event, number that Thompson acknowledges is not many, but growing by a few bodies each year." He notes that part of the problem is Moabs location, which he characterizes as not the easiest place to get to." Last year, participants came from Washington State, California, Idaho and Utah. They were the diehard types," said Thompson. "We even had John Foss, the president of the International Unicycling Federation, attend. That was a real treat." Thompson believes growth in the event will come through cultivation of regional riders, as evidenced by the fact that most of this years participants are coming from Colorado and Idaho. "We are really just starting to get networked and generating awareness of the sport." To those who can barely fathom attempting Slickrock on two wheels, doing it on s unicycle might seem completely insane. But Thompson notes, "It appears way more dangerous than it actually is. I rode and still ride Slickrock on my mountain bike, and I can aay that I have never been iryured on my unicycle the way I have been on my mountain bike. Thata because travel on a unicycle ia alower and more controlled and precise." 29-3- 1. d Extreme adventures Last weekend's Adventure Xstream race enjoyed Its second successful year here In Moab as part of a ttree-rac- e saries that includes Durango and Vail. About 175 participants kayaked, ran and mountain bikad a grueling route down river and through the Gemini Bridges and Utile Canyon areas. In this pleura, a kayak armada launches from the Moab Boat Ramp Saturday, March 23 at the start of the race. Photo by Franklin Seal multi-spo- e Board creates safe schools violation Mexican man protocol in wake of BB gun incident dies in wreck by Franklin Heal staff wTiter The Grand County Board of Education burned the midnight oil dur- ing their monthly meeting last Wednesday, March 20, answering tough questions from parents, and dealing with a long list of issues as the district faces increasing pressure to improve local education while coping with difficult budget constraints. The March 20 meeting was considerably less contentious than last month meeting during whith a number of parent expressed serious concerns over the handling of several school safety incidents at the middle school and high school. A key concern staff writer The much a waited 500 West road improvement project is alated to beCorpogin later this spring. ration, a Moab baaed construction company, submitted the lowest bid on the project, which includes improving and widening 500 West between 400 North and U.S. 191. On Tuesday night, the Moab City Council unanimously approved bid for the project. But Brent Williams, city public works director, said all bids for the work were significantly higher than the $600,000 cost projections expected by the city and engineers Three companies sub -- K-S- IMTlmtir litdtptndonl cell utKt'noabflmexom CThe nt Thin newt- paper la printed XV f) on recycled paper and la recyclable. A group of MUnicydists' heads up the Slickrock Photo provided by Roll Thompson POOR COPY I Trail last month was a male high school student who was reported to have threatened another boy with a BB gun on the middle school grounds. During the portion of last Wednesdays meeting set aside for delegations, Diane VanArsdol, a parent, asked the board to report on what had been done to improve the districts handling of such incidents. Superintendent Ron Ferguson and several hoard members explained that, in direct response to the concerns raised the previous month, safe they developed a two-pag- e schools violation protocol" form. The idea behind the form (still in draft Continued on Page A2 City lets bid on 5th West by IJsa Church To subscribe to rt mitted project bids, ranging from $81 3,697 to $859,626. I've run the numbers, and these are good bids," Williams said, adding that he was initially surprised that all the bids were so much higher than expected. "Ive never seen the engineer lie so off on projections," he said. In a memo to the council, City Manager Donna Mettler recom- mended that the additional funds lie taken from the Walker Detention Basin project, which the city now plans to postpone for at least another year Metzler said earlier this month that the 500 West project is a main priority for the city and should be completed this year. INS prepares charges by Franklin Seal staff writer man from Central Mexico died on early Sunday morning in a rollover accident involving 13 alleged illegal aliens. Ten passengers m the 1994 Chevrolet Suburan were hospitalized wrtth iryunes including broken backs, broken legs, lacerations and internal injuries. Two passengers escaped uninjured According to Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Andy Peterson, Carlos Duarte, 30, fell asleep at the wheel around 5 05 a m. He was driving the SUV eastbound, one mile east of the East Cisco exit. The vehicle veered into the median and rolled. Only two of the 13 occupants in the vehicle (the two who escaped injury) were wearing their seatbelts, Peterson said. Several of the passengers were ejected as the Suburban rolled, including the man who died His name w as being withheld pending notification of kin. One or two persons were reportedly pinned under the vehicle but w ere rescued by passengers strong enough to free them. Immigration and Naturalization A 31 year-old Service was reportedly preparing federal cl cargos against the driver and a passenger, Jaime Islas, 29 Islas owned the SUV that was registered in Arizona. He had also been driving r during ts- - trip, Peterson said. T. eight-passeng- er ear-he- |